Mail out flyers is the best way.You can drive around the area that you are interested and see if it looks abandoned and find the owner.It's off-market so it means a lot of manual work on finding them. do a simple internet search and you will find many ways.

However, they’ve told me their daughter might move in next summer, so I’ll likely need to find a new place in about a year.

So why didn’t I walk away from this one?

He was slow on selling it, believing that all the money was mine instead of trying to close the deal quickly so I could do it again. so I ended up spending my profits on the monthly mortgage payments.

Discouraging investors from taking a dilapidated home in poor condition, serving a market need, and dare they make a honest profit from doing so. 

Thank you so much for the recommendations!

The tenants won’t change the filters anyway so even if you have periodic checks the units will still wear out.

He has not been involved with the property so far but he has capital that he can contribute.

IF so, what is it?

So far I have had a nerve racking a frustrating time.